Vehicle

We didn’t have much time between the moment we got the idea of making this trip and the actual beginning of our trip, so finding a suitable vehicle was decisive for the decision to really drive along the Panamericana. We had pretty clear ideas about all the things the vehicle should be able to do. In no way did we want to have to turn around when we got to bad streets or tracks or if we had to cross a small river. It should be an all-terrain vehicle with enough room for the children, so only twin-cabs came into consideration. This made it clear that we would look for a pick-up or something similar with enough room for a superstructure. An additional difficulty was the fact that we absolutely wanted to stay within the 3.5t limit because of our “new” German driver’s licenses.

Due to their relatively small cargo area and the restrictions that brings for the size of the superstructure, Japanese pick-ups, like the Toyota Hilux, were out of the question for us. The 130 Defender was a possibility, but, for several reasons, even it didn’t seem ideal for us. Several nights on-line led us on the right track to the BREMACH, a purportedly very sturdy all-terrain vehicle with clear and simple technology. In addition, the chassis is very light in comparison to similar vehicles, which makes the vehicle load capacity larger. We were very lucky in our search for a used BREMACH and soon found one in France in October 2012. Since there aren’t very many twin cabins for sale in Europe and the BREMACH we found had only been driven 27,000km (17,000 miles), we decided on the spot to buy the vehicle and make the trip. First of all, we drove the vehicle to Erich Christ (Allradchrist, main importer and specialist for BREMACH) in Raab near Passau, so that he could make a thorough check and get it in good shape for the big trip.

Apparently the former owners, employees of the French national railway company SNCF, hadn’t focused much on grease, lubricants, and other maintenance products, so Erich was quite appalled when he saw the miserable condition of some parts of the BREMACH. Luckily, there were no problems with the transmission and motor. The French car dealer very fairly took over a large part of the costs resulting from the problems. In addition, our BREMACH got new springs, a new, sturdier rear axle, a large additional tank, decent wheels, and a whole lot of care and attention. Thanks to Erich’s general overhaul, we are now able to drive through the world with a very good feeling.

After the BREMACH had been made technically fit, we picked it up in Passau in December and drive to our body-builder (ORTEC – Offroadtechnik GmbH) in Steyerberg with totally unchallenged suspension. This is where our BREMACH got its rear cabin for our living quarters. Our choice was for ORTEC since they gave us a quarantee for the weight and the superstructure was produced exactly according to our concepts. What’s more, we got an appointment to have it done in a very short time period, so we were able to pick up the empty cabin by the beginning of February. Next on the program was the interior construction, which we did ourselves.

With raised roof

Technical Data:

BREMACH TGR 35×4, 2.8l turbo diesel with 106PS motor

Motor

Connectible 4-wheel drive, 5-gear transmission with two ranges of speed, a total of 20 forwards and 4 rear gears, differential lock in the rear